>>abirached: this week on world business >>: as the world economic forum meets in an increasingly economically resilient china how will the bullish growth of the east benefit countries in central asia? >>: china also feels confident to lead. but the confidence is also responsibility. and that's the best message that i've heard these days >>: and we meet with anies baswedan one of wef's young global leaders for 2009, and one of indonesia's most respected thinkers. >>: in the context of indonesia, islam and democracy is walking hand in hand.

>>: and in the third part of our series on egypt -the obama effect - how the country is investing in itself for the future. >>: we are adding to our power grid network every year the equivalent of what the aswan high dam did to egypt - every year. >>abirached: hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. it's almost a cliche, but in the world of business, all eyes are on the east as asia, led by a bullish china, delivers growth, while the developed world flounders.but is this just a temporary blip, or are

we witnessing a structural shift in the global economy, and will this boom in the east prove a boon for central asia. world business got the opinion on the ground from the world economic forum in dalian. >>reporter: among the great and good of global capitalism, it could almost be considered a hero's welcome. >>reporter: and that's because, here in dalian, china's premier wen jiabao looks like delivering on what he promised less than 8 months ago in davos: 8 percent growth in 2009, fuelled by a 600 billion dollar stimulus plan that he now vows to expand - and so create new engines of growth. premier wen says the measures are timely, forceful and effective. >>: rarely have governments, global executives, the markets hung on every word uttered by a chinese leader - notably those from countries-in-crisis, looking for direction. >>zatlers:

china also feels confident to lead. but the confidence is also responsibility. and that's the best message that i've heard these days - because we all look at china and we want to get the answers. >>reporter: with global growth coming primarily from emerging economies like china and india, with their vast domestic markets, there's even talk of a structural shift in the global economy from west to east - though this may be far too premature as asians don't really spend enough. >>roach: the main impediment to consumer led growth in asia is the lack of a social safety net. and asia has talked the talk but it hasn't walked the walk. it needs to invest aggressively in social security, private pensions, medical care, and unemployment insurance. until it does that, asians will remain predisposed towards excessive levels of precautionary saving and be reluctant to stimulate internal private consumption. >>reporter: but unleashing consumption

could result in an aftershock: high levels of inflation. undeterred, china says the social security landscape is changing - and will encourage multiple service providers. which is great news for foreign companies - which have been salivating over this potentially huge market since china joined the wto in 2001. but the government says the necessary reforms must be carefully managed. with the global economy still fragile, the great exporter's performance is, today, neither stable, nor balanced. >>mackie: premier wen warns foreign executives not to pin all their hopes for a quick recovery on china. he promises to speed-up efforts to boost domestic consumption by opening up the country's mainly state protected service industries to the private sector. nonetheless, those poised to enter the market here seeking growth should be braced for a long and arduous ride. in other words, don't rely on the chinese to solve the world's problems. >>reporter: in fact, china needs help

with challenges of its own: like how to move to a low carbon economy. big green energy deals could be the next big thing. in arid inner mongolia, american firm first solar has signed a deal to build what will be the world's biggest solar energy power plant- covering some 65 square kilometres. green energy, however, also includes cleaner fuels. just ask denmark's novozymes - here at dalian to spread the word that it's biofuel technology, based on crop waste, can cut china's annual gasolineconsumption by 10 percent by 2020. this could reduce annual co2 emissions by tens of millions of tons - and employ 6 million farmers in poor rural areas. >>nagy: now we're not just doing something good for the environment but certainly also for rural developmentand wealth increase in the agricultural sector. so, yes, china holds a lot of very, very interesting opportunities for us.

and because of the sheer size of china, it's of course, a very, very interesting market. >>reporter: of course, china is making strategic investments too - globally. take egypt, which now hosts over 800 chinese funded companies. beijing is now studying a raft of 52 key projects, worth up to 25 billion dollars, associated with the new, shenzhen-style, low tax, low tariff, suez economic and trade zone. >>mohieldin: if you do all of these kinds of projects, you are not just aiming for one single country - even if it has 80 million inhabitants and a growing economy at averages of 5 to 7 percent during the last 5 years. the aim was, basically, the african continent and the arab world. >>reporter: the arrival of executives from china - and beyond - is also music to the ears of governments in central asia. while egypt is enhancing trade through the suez, uzbekistan plans

a sophisticated silk road logistics hub. uzbekistan, rich in gold, uranium, oil and gas, is on a charm offensive to boost its fledgling economy and open-up - forging strategic alliances to develop these sectors plus vast swathes of quality farmland. >>karimova: and i think this is a very good point for the food security for china - issues for china, for the middle east. and obviously there is a potential in resources. we have to, i think, communicate and the world economic forum is a very good platform to attract investment and to attract the right people. >>reporter: while uzbekistan embarks on a trade and investment roadshow in europe later this month, the world's leading power brokers will gather in pittsburgh to cement the shaky global recovery. this could be tricky given president obama's

authorisation of a 35 percent tariff on imported chinese tyres which could force counter measures from beijing. but what is clear as this meeting ends is that a confidentchina has shown just what can be achieved with resolve and focus. >>abirached: earlier this year the world economic forum announced its list of young global leaders, the people itbelieves will shape the future of the world. on that list is anies baswedan, the president of paramadina university in jakarta, the youngest university rector in the country. as part of our inside indonesia series, world business caught up with him in jakarta where we took the opportunity to get his opinion on the link between education and extremism as well as the role his country will play in the new world order. >>sager: you are concerned about education being unattainable to the poor. you are talking about the industrialization

of education. what do you mean by that? >>baswedan: when we had independence, poverty was everywhere, illiteracy was everywhere, this country was nothing at that time, we had only, less than 50 university students when we had independence. and then, the government started to educate its population, the young generation of indonesians were educated inthe fifties and by the eighties indonesia started to have its first middle class. it took 30 years to produce the middle class of indonesia and now our population is around 240 million people and around 60 million people are enjoying the life of the middle classes. that is about a quarter. and thatprocess took place in 30 years. now we have to take care of the other 180 million people who are not yet moving up the ladder. so, education in a country like indonesia is not only to make

yourself informed, open your view and understand about the world, but it is also an escalator to move up from the lower class to the middle class. education is the key, therefore affordability is very important, because if education is affordable, then you will be able to step onto the escalator and move upward. >>sager: is there then a link between education and extremism? >>baswedan: people who are not educated have been there for centuries, people who have radical views have been there for centuries, but that doesn't translate into violence. so having an extremist view, being uneducated and being poor, does not make you automatically a possible, potential attacker or terrorist.it is very important to see the change in the society that took place in the past several decades. if you pay close attention, you would see many cities

in which 50 years ago there was a vibrant economy, the society was participating in the market, able to benefit from the transactions in the economy. now they are marginalised and what used to be tolerant communities, after the absence of vibrantmarkets, they started to become less tolerant communities. the way i look at it, it is not only education, but presence of market is very important. for centuries muslims in indonesia have been knownfor being very tolerant muslims and still until today they are very tolerant muslims. and one of the reasons for that is because these are trading societies, they trade, they meet people, they are very open minded and this is people of an archipelago who have that nature of exchange of ideas. but the issue is not

very open minded and this is people of an archipelago who have that nature of exchange of ideas. but the issue is not so much ababout being marginalised in the process, in participating in the economy and i think this is an important issue. so, yes, education is important, opening up prospective and views, but not only that. i think expansion of market economies ensuring that everyone is able to participate in the market it will help to flourish that and also that is good for democracy. >>sager: can democracy, islam and modernity coexist harmoniously and peacefully? >>baswedan: yes, i think so. people understand that it is not about whether the state is islamic or secular, it is about whether people of religion are able to practise religion freely and that the state is not

hostile to religion. and that i think is in the mind of indonesians. so the majority having that view, therefore, in the context of indonesia, islam and democracy is walking hand in hand. >>sager: indonesia is a democratic and economic success story. but do you think it is still overlooked though? >>baswedan: we democratised, de centralised from one of the most centralised government to one of the most de centralised today. and the economy was hit badly by the crisis. so three things happening: recovering,decentralisation and democratisation. but now ten years after the reforms started, indonesia started to look at the international world and trying to put itself somewhere in the map,

indonesia is peaceful, religious, democracy and friendly to the world. >>sager: we have seen peaceful elections and president yudhoyono re elected. what are the key challenges in the second term? >>baswedan: short term, is infrastructure, because that would guarantee the expansion of the economy. number twois decentralisation of the market, ensuring there are quite a few engines of growth across the country. three is education, ensuring that the young indonesians, many of them, are educated three is education, ensuring that the young indonesians, many of them, are educated properly, quality education, so that they can participate in the market. when we often, indonesians often see ourselves as a very rich nation because of the minerals, oil, gas, that is present here in our land,

but i think that our mind set has to change, we must see people as our number one asset, not the natural resources. generally i think in the second term president yudhoyono will have a much stronger say in this process. >>abirached: last year dr baswedan was also named one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by us magazine, foreign policy >>: still to come on world business... with a vast population of young talented people egypt has the opportunity to become one of the greatoutsourcing centres of the world, but has to keep creating jobs at a rapid rate. >>: and the economic impact to the world if bees buzz off. >>: half full hives... and the rest in just a moment on world business...

>>abirached: over the last five years egypt introduced a series of economic reforms that led, before the global financial crisis, to a 7% annual increase in gdp. even now growth this year is still predicted to be above 4.5%. but the country is facing a series of ongoing serious challenges, particularly the need to address the large number of its people still living in poverty. in his cairo speech president obama called for the region as a whole to focus more on innovation and education. but what does the egyptian government intend to do next? >>reporter: the arafa group's new textile factory is just over a year old and produces clothes for, amongst others, hugo boss and marks and spencer. all

told the group now employs 7,000 people in egypt. and it's expanding. for example it intends to double the number of people working in this factory over the next twelve months. >>arafa: we are not creating jobs at $1000 per month - but are creating jobs at $100 - $150 per month. but the number of jobs we create are very important for the people who are below a certain level of poverty. >>reporter: with that in mind, one key element of the government's reforms has been to speed up the time it takes to create new businesses. >>o'sullivan: the time it takes now to register a business now is three days compared to seven months. >>reporter: the intention being to create more, private sector, jobs. >>nazif: think about the effect on an egyptian family of having some one who didn't

work before start work. it is not the same as just having a raise - it is much more than that. >>reporter: the government has also taken steps to diversify the economy. the ict industry has been growing at 15 per cent a year. with at kearney recently listed egypt as the number one centre for outsourcing inthe middle east and north africa. >>refky: if you look at at kearney they have three parameters: its the financial structure, the business environment its the human resources, skills - the availability and scalability. >>reporter: yet jobs in such fields as it will benefit only a small section of the population; the majority still live in poverty. and with 650,000 new entrants into the job market each year the government understands much more needs to be done. >>boutros-ghali: we discovered in the last five years infrastructure bottlenecks. we were growing at 7 - 7 and a halfand we were reaching the very limit of our infrastructure, roads, communications and ports. >>reporter: and a large part of the government's spending, including this year's 6 billion dollar stimulus package, is being directed towards building the nation's infrastructure. >>nazif: we are adding to our power

grid network every year the equivalent of what the aswan high damn did toegypt - every year. >>reporter: there is also a move to spread economic development throughout the country including the creation ofindustrial zones that are planned to contain five thousand new factories within a decade. >>rachid: in industry we are focusing on 76 zones and areas across egypt - in internal trade we refocusing on 15 of the governorates. ... there is a program the government has adopted where we are going to go from the bottom to the top in a sense that we are starting with one thousand villages, the poorest one thousand villages in egypt. >>reporter: however, one of the most crucial areas that needs to be addressed is the long term issue of education which, for years has been failing the people. for example more than 25% of the population is stillilliterate.

>>rachid: we need to improve dramatically our education system. it does not make it easy to happen because obviously what you need to do is to ensure that while you are carrying the load of fifteen million students with a population growth of over one million a year you need to fix it, you need to repair ityou need to change it. >>reporter: and the government is taking steps to make this happen. >>o'sullivan: head of division, oecd private sector development the government right now, i believe, has plans to build something like 3,500 schools in some of those areas. >>reporter: fixing the education system is, according to the chairman of one of the country leading investment banks, vital. >>saba: i think we have a lot to do in terms of reforming the educational system and making sure that the education that is provided to the young egyptians is in the right direction to make sure they're qualified to get the right jobs. >>reporter: with its growing population egypt is, in many ways, in a race against time. yet the government is aware of this and is running hard. the only question is whether it can keep up the pace. >>abirached: the drone of honeybees is one of the classic sounds of summer, but over recent years it has been a sound we have been hearing less and less. across the world bee

populations have been in rapid decline. this isn't just a problem for honey lovers, it could have disastrous economic implications for us all. >>reporter: busy bees buzzing from their hives. as summer fades, their work collecting nectar to feed a new generation of honey makers is almost over for another year. but in the uk, honeybee numbers are falling fast. and nowadays when beekeepers check their colonies they dread the scale of losses they'll find: 19 >>lovett: last full winter we've been able to measure, that's 2007-2008, we were at over thirty per cent, and in some areas in the country way way more than that and that's very serious, you're losing nearly a third of your colonies. >>reporter: the decline led to a 50 per cent drop in home-produced honey, which ran out in the shops by christmas last year. but there's a great deal more at stake than a teatime

treat when it comes to the healthof bees. >>lovett: it isn't just about honey, it's about pollination and the whole nation depends on pollination and taken on the global scale, honey bees are absolutely fundamental pollinators. >>reporter: no-one knows better than farmers the importance of bees to growing crops: >>hartfield: things like apples and soft fruit, for those crops pollination is very much dependent upon honey bees, probably around ninety per cent dependent. >>reporter: honey bees contribute three hundred million dollars worth of crop pollinations to the agricultural economy in the uk and are estimated to carry out half of the pollination of other plants, on which ultimately all the rest of wildlife depends. >>baldwin: bees play a vital role in the food chain, responsible for one in three of the mouthfuls we eat.

>>reporter: scientists working to reverse the decline may dismiss apocalyptic scenarios but they are investigating the disappearance of hives around the world, including huge losses, from so-called colony collapse disorder, in the united states, where pollination by large commercially-managed bee businesses contributes 15 billion dollars of value to agriculture. >>: research is focusing on viruses, diseases, and in the uk on a particularly destructive parasite, thevarroa mite, known to britain's army of mainly amateur apiarists: >>maurer: for the first ten years we were able to treat them quite simply with little pyretheroid strips that we used to put into the hives, but the mites are now becoming immune to those strips. >>reporter: working on solutions at this unit at sussex university, researchers hope selective breeding will produce a bee which will rid itself of parasites and diseases

using a natural trait called hygienic behaviour, where bees throw a sick larva or pupa out of the hive before it can spread the infection. >>: the very latest genetic techniques are being employed, targetting not just specific colonies, but individual bees: >>carreck: by actually observing their hygienic behaviour and then looking at the genotype of those bees, looking at their dna, we can hopefully speed up the breeding process, and that technique should be applicable elsewhere in the world. >>reporter: public interest in the honeybee issue has been growing steadily, and a national campaign bore fruit this year when the uk government pledged fifteen million dollars of new funding for research into pollinators. >>: besides pests and disease, the finger of blame has been pointed at global warming, and even phone masts.

and environmentalists are calling for a ban on a group of pesticides which beekeepers are also concerned about: >>lovett: pesticides have the potential to do a great deal of damage and the newer pesticides, the neonicotinoids need to be looked at a little more closely. >>reporter: but farmers, and the uk's only professor of apiculture dismiss any link with the bees' problems. >>ratnieks: where insecticides are used correctly, they do not cause major problems; in britain for the last five years we've not had a single reported incident of a major pesticide kill caused by insecticides onhoney bees. >>reporter: it's a view echoed unsurprisingly by manufacturers such as bayer: >>little: where these products are used in large amounts, and i'll give you the example of australia, they have no problems with bee health, and in places in france where they have restricted the use of neonicotinoids they are still seeing exactly the same problems with bee health as where they are being used. >>reporter: and while the search goes on for a solution to the mystery of the disappearing honey bee, a commercial breakthrough will be costly and time-consuming: >>little: you first of course have

to find something that you think may be active on a particular thing, in this case a varroa mite, it then costs something in the region of about 200 million dollars to bring a new product to the market, and it'll take you somewhere between nine, ten, eleven years to actually do so. >>reporter: beekeepers, farmers and honey-lovers everywhere are not alone in hoping it won't be too late to ensure the survival of a creature vital to the food we eat. >>abirached: that's it for this week's world business. thanks for watching. we'll see you again at the same time next week.